> 1984 … fight club.

funny! Yeah my sense of the east is not from 1984. Rather my travels to Prague, Vienna, Paris. Friends I have known, discussions had. Even in the photos you shared, those buildings looked powerful and stately. A photo of a street in paris would have women with a bright red coat, or layered colors in a scarf. in the east I am used to seeing dark hues. It just seemed there was a Russian seriousness & almost fatalism about life that seemed to separate east from west. but this is not a very broadly informed opinion, so I don’t hold it strongly.

Now I see when you speak of consequences of east and west you are not talking about technological ones as much as social ones… particularly social consequences for OTHER countries touched by each.

As far as I can see, nations… all nations, operate in a very very self serving way. They put lip service on what they are doing, but it seems (almost) universal that the “right” thing to do, is also the thing that is beneficial for the nation making the claim of right and wrong. Just how bad this effect is, seems to have more to do with the sentiment and knowledge of the citizenry, rather than most anything else including its form of government. (well except the degree that the citizens can exert influence on the government, but this also seems to vary independently from the form of government.)

I read parts of your CATO article. It does not really have results of polls (that I could see). Maybe there would be recent polls. I am most interested to know the opinions of older folks who where adults in 1990… what do they think in 2020 after 30 years?

thanks for the conversation!